NYTimes.com Gets Into the Aggregation Game

The New York Times has finally put its purchase of BlogRunner to use. This morning sees NYTimes.com's Technology page incorporating its new feed aggregation chops into a new section called "Technology Headlines From Around the Web."

Although it's not the prettiest layout we've seen, seeing the NYT pool its resources to give tech news aggregation sites Techmeme and Google News a run for their money is a good sign for the embattled publication. NYT editor and Bits blogger Saul Hansell says the secret of its success will be the combination of human/algorithmic editing:

Unlike Google and Techmeme, we don't need to prove that computers are better editors than people. Nor are we stuck in a John Henry race to insist that muscle always beats steel. We want to use both our programmers and our newsroom full of journalists to make the most interesting and useful site we can.

Is it shaping up to be a Techmeme or Google News-killer? Hardly -- but it doesn't have to be. For NYTimes.com, this an acknowledgment of the need to adapt to users' habits as content (and advertising dollars) increasingly shift online.

[Press Release]